Posts by bluecanary

Inspired by DT's topic but meant to be entirely humorous. Let's nominate members to our own governing body. They can each be head of their own department. Here's my picks:

Leoleia—dept. of people way smarter than everyone else

Oompa—dept. of drooling over hot chicks

Cameo-d—dept. of there is a conspiracy here!

Yizuman—dept. of LOL kitties

Blondie—dept. of how does she stomach reading all that crap to comment on it?

All Time Jeff—dept. of bananas

WTWizard—dept. of celibacy

John Doe—dept. of dirty bastards

Spike Tassell—dept. of if you can't beat em, join em

Ms. Jones—dept. of oh snap!

Challam—dept. of somebody on here might as well be religious

SnakesintheTower—dept of who cares? I’m getting married!

3

The governing body have disassociated themselves by their actions...

by DT in

...a new governing body needs to be elected.

i know this sounds like a joke, but i'm serious.. i'm sure you're thinking that would be nice, but it will never happen.

i believe it can and will happen.

bluecanary

I have nothing serious to say here so I'm going to take this:

On another thread we can start nominating potential candidates.

and run with it.

37

Lack of education does not = stupid.

by bluecanary in

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[endif] in combatting cult mind control, steve hassan writes:.

in principle, i am against banning cults from college campuses unless they expressly violate rules of conduct that every student organization is expected to follow.

bluecanary

Same here, Sylvia. I remember thinking "I agree with their conclusion, but not with how they arrived at it." What I didn't question was why on earth I agreed with their conclusion!

37

Lack of education does not = stupid.

by bluecanary in

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[endif] in combatting cult mind control, steve hassan writes:.

in principle, i am against banning cults from college campuses unless they expressly violate rules of conduct that every student organization is expected to follow.

bluecanary

In Combatting Cult Mind Control, Steve Hassan writes:

In principle, I am against banning cults from college campuses unless they expressly violate rules of conduct that every student organization is expected to follow. I believe that these groups have the right to exist, and I would not like to see legislation banning them. However, I would like to see programs sponsored by colleges to teach people about the specifics about mind control and the recruitment techniques commonly used by destructive cults.

I would love to see every high school and college teach its students about mind control and destructive cults. The course needn’t mention any particular group by name; it should discuss the psychological principles of mind control and teach students to be suspicious of any environment that discourages them from asking critical questions.

Numerous times on this board, I have seen people attack the witnesses as being stupid or gullible. While this may be true on a group level, it is not on an individual level. Most of us here at one time chose to be a member of that organization, not because of stupidity, but because of lack of awareness of cult indoctrination and mind control techniques.

If you had received an education about this in school, do you think it would have prevented you from becoming a witness (or facilitated your leaving it, if you already were one)?

I, for one, agree with Steve Hassan. I do not want the government to step in and ban any group. The government doesn’t do anything by half measures. If they step in, it will be with a big stick and more will be destroyed than we want.

But if individuals are educated, they can have the tools to make wise decisions about what groups to be a part of.

44

Jesus God Or Not? Is This A Salvation Issue?

by frankiespeakin in

jesus god or not?

is this a salvation issue?.

what is all this commotion about?

bluecanary

If that is the case Jesus was a deluded liar and a mad man making the claims he did.

LOL. I wouldn't be surprised. Madness and genious often go hand in hand.

3

Is the Kingdom of God an Actual Government? I don't think so.

by journey-on in

what is a kingdom?

it's the domain of a ruler, not the government itself.

jesus said he was sent to "preach the good news of the kindgom of god".

bluecanary

I'm always interested in hearing the Scriptures interpreted differently than the WTS does. Thanks for posting this.

62

My SIL might be 'fishin'....?

by AK - Jeff in

my wife 'faded' during the same time i da'd myself.

we are absolutely both on the same page.. it is interesting [and on another level disturbing] that 'status' plays so heavily in the minds of jw's and their relationships.

as many others have related, my wife sometimes is engaged in conversations with jw's she meets in public, while all those same jw's will totally 'shun' me - sometimes in the same moment.

bluecanary

Is it me, or does this seem to be happening a lot lately? I wonder if they're having a big push for the members to really get rid of any "bad" influences.

OTOH, I'm new at this, so this sort of thing might just go on all the time.

39

You Have No Witness "Friends"

by metatron in

jw
friends

i apologize for this point, as if beating it to death, but folks, you don't have any witness friends!

there is no such thing.. does that sound extreme?

too radical?

bluecanary

Conditional love is not.

I strongly disagree. Have you ever seen a woman whose been badly beaten by her husband, defend him? Were you impressed by her uncondintional love or did you think she was mentally lacking?

I do not have children yet, so I cannot speak about parental love, which may be an exception. Other kinds of love are always conditional. The conditions differ from person to person. If your best friend joined the KKK and started lynching jews or blacks and telling you he hated your guts would you still love him? You qualify your love by placing conditions on it. You love the person you knew him to be in the past. You love the person you wish he would become. You may try to believe that a physical or mental problem is causing him to act in a way that he does not truly intend, another qualification. But you do not love the person who is acting in an evil way.

We all have conditions. You may think that someone else's conditions are lame or wrong, but then you're free to not associate with those people. You can choose to associate only with people who honor the same conditions that you do,.

44

Jesus God Or Not? Is This A Salvation Issue?

by frankiespeakin in

jesus god or not?

is this a salvation issue?.

what is all this commotion about?

bluecanary

DeputyDog said: I think you need to ask, how does "a sincere Christian" get into the wrong group?

By being confused or deceived. I was a sincere Christian as a JW in the sense that I fully believed I was following Christ the way he wanted. Obviously I was wrong. But I believed wholeheartedly that I was right. The moment I stopped believing it was right, I left. But it took 20 years for that to happen.

Joseph, thank you for your response. Mistakes made by the early Christians were indeed corrected, although not always immediately or all at once. And I think it evident that Jesus would not overlook the false beliefs of any who are aware they are false and purposefully teaching others falsehood.

What I am wondering about is individuals, rather than entire groups. If an individual is associated with a group that teaches falsehood, but have been fooled into believing it is truth, and does not become aware of that deception before they die, does God hold that against them in judgment? This question is relevant, not just for Christians, but for people in other faiths who have been taught that their particular god or prophet is the true one.

Stephen said: So what is your interest with the Unitarians? What do you see Jesus as?

My only impressions of Jesus, as yet, have come from reading the new world translation. I have a lengthy reading list with many topics; it is my intention to read some books about the historicity of Jesus and, as usual, I would like to consider different conclusions on the matter.

My feeling right now is that Jesus was very similar to Siddhartha Gotama (the original Buddha). He was a man with no claim to divinity, who tried to influence people to develop compassion-based wisdom in order to lead more fulfilling lives. I think the trappings of organization and religious doctrine group up around him without his intent.